News

Macworld UK: MS’ video-player plans ‘misguided’

“Microsoft’s planned move into the digital-video player market is misguided, and can never match the success of music players, says Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

In an interview with the New York Times Jobs explains that high price and long up-load times means Microsoft’s move into this business area is “misguided”.

Jobs said: “There’s just no equivalent of headphones. While a music player gives you a concert-hall experience, watching video on a tiny three-inch hand-held screen is nothing like the experience of watching a movie in a cinema or even on TV.”

Comments

1

Sounds like a great idea, but I can’t get the file downloaded either in Netscape or Explorer.

Posted by shs on January 12, 2004 at 1:00 PM (CST)

2

This shows that perhaps maybe there won’t be a video iPod. I hope not, at least.

Posted by Dasein on January 12, 2004 at 1:04 PM (CST)

3

Hmm, very interesting indeed. I agree, this effectively kills off any chance of a video iPod.

Posted by AussieLeigh24 on January 12, 2004 at 1:28 PM (CST)

4

I’m glad too. If they were to add video to the existing iPod, then most of the people who want strictly music will have to pay extra for a feature they’ll never use; kind of like cameras on cell phones.

Posted by narco in Burbank on January 12, 2004 at 3:11 PM (CST)

5

maybe a video ipod will just have the ability to playback video through some rca plugs or composite video…

in other words, the ability to plug it into a tv or computer monitor.

on the other hand, isn’t the “microsoft player” actually produced by creative? it is just able to integrate well with microsoft’s software…

Posted by m0nkey on January 12, 2004 at 3:25 PM (CST)

6

oh, and i imagine a video ipod would be a third member to the existing ipod family…

Posted by m0nkey on January 12, 2004 at 3:26 PM (CST)

7

Good observations, m0nkey. And they go right in line with the comments that Jobs has made as well as the recently filled Apple job posting.

Posted by Atomic Bomb in Mid-Atlantic on January 12, 2004 at 3:33 PM (CST)

8

iTunes is the slowest piece of software since Music Match.

Jobs bashes Windows? (+/-)50% of the iPod’s market are Win. users. Oh well, after he gets ur money, u get a stab in the back.

Thanks Stevie! ur my iDOL (nice pun? :p)

Posted by iQUEER on January 12, 2004 at 4:19 PM (CST)

9

“...after he gets ur money…”

iTunes is free.

And that is a good pun.

Posted by Atomic Bomb in Mid-Atlantic on January 12, 2004 at 4:25 PM (CST)

10

I hate to throw wood into a giant fire fight, but Jobs has a point with what people want in a video player.

iQueer, I do feel sorry for you windows users, but none the less, that’s quite the unrelated comment *cough

for those of you who think that there WON’T be a vidpod,
“However, Jobs did not rule out that Apple would work on such a device. He told the Times: “Who knows what we

Posted by Fiddytree on January 12, 2004 at 4:37 PM (CST)

11

I think Steve has been a billionaire for too long - in this interview he says that video players cost $700.

That might have been true a year ago but I’ve seen the RCA video player in Best Buy for $350 (well, it was open box, I think MSRP is $400). The Archos is still $500+.

But the point is that their price is coming down. When there are a bunch of sub-$300 video players, surely they will either have to add color LCD to the iPod, or drop its entry price to sub-$200. I give it 6 months for either event. The miniPod is a step in the right direction, but the 4GB capacity is a joke.

Posted by BillionairesForBush on January 12, 2004 at 4:45 PM (CST)

12

Why on earth would I want to have one of those video players when I can buy a portable DVD player for less than $200?

Posted by lyd on January 12, 2004 at 5:29 PM (CST)

13

It could be successful if the “earphones” turns into a heads display porjected to appear as a virtual large screen placed at a virtaul 10 foot. You probably seen the various gogle like displays. Of course, you can’t do much multitasking with this solution.

Posted by shaitan on January 12, 2004 at 5:45 PM (CST)

14

I think the portable DVD players for less than $200 are like saying you can buy minidisk players for less than an iPod. That’s true but then you are switching disks constantly.

The nice thing about a media player with a hard disk, like the iPod, is that with 40GB of storage you can store several hundred hours of movies and TV on it and access them all with a few button clicks instead of carrying around lots of DVDs.

Posted by whereismyvideoipod on January 12, 2004 at 6:48 PM (CST)

15

<<Jobs said: “There’s just no equivalent of headphones. While a music player gives you a concert-hall experience, watching video on a tiny three-inch hand-held screen is nothing like the experience of watching a movie in a cinema or even on TV.”>>

but sitting 20 inches away from a 14in. laptop screen is similar in ratio to sitting 20 feet away from 14 foot cinema screen - am I right? And I wouldn’t go so far to say that those apple headphone buds are a “concert-hall experience”!

Posted by ssmith2k3 on January 13, 2004 at 8:19 AM (CST)

16

Watching at 20” from your laptop or say 10” from those 5” portable DVD’s doesn’t compare to a regular screen. Moving your position by a few inches, doesn’t have much effect on viewing a 27+” display, but such a movement with your lap top or smaller screen extends over a much larger viewing angle. Who could sit still over the course of a 1.5 hours, the typical video fare? Sitting in a confined position for that long is untenable.

Posted by shaitan on January 13, 2004 at 11:03 AM (CST)

17

video is not like music or audio book - tuff to do two things at one time with video watching - would be someting similar to the portable dvd players - a real niche market item.

Posted by Bayport Bob on January 13, 2004 at 11:08 AM (CST)

18

I can’t snow ski and watch video. I can’t cut my grass and watch video. I can’t drive and watch video… BTW, have you ever watched video on a tiny, tiny screen? Or in sunlight? Yeah, that’s an experience you’ll cherish! Bah!

Posted by Obadiah on January 13, 2004 at 12:36 PM (CST)

19

I guess u guys don’t travel much, i would love something like that. I could load up my movies and not have to worry about the discs.

Posted by Pellinore on January 13, 2004 at 1:40 PM (CST)

20

your disks are copy-protected and MS isn’t going to make it easy for you to RIP your DVDs to your Portable Media Player